Would-be governor Dan Maes today released more than a dozen pages of his police personnel file that he says validates his story about his time with the Liberal Kansas Police Department a quarter century ago.

Dan Maes in the mid-1980s as a police officer in Liberal, Kansas

While the documents show Maes was part of an ongoing investigation into a small-town gambling ring back in 1985, they also show that he was fired for leaking information about the probe to a relative of a suspected ringleader.

“My only misconduct has been the sharing of the pressures and anxieties of a complex investigation with the most important person in my life which has been loyal to me and my role as a police officer,” Maes wrote in July 1985, pleading for his job. “Neither I nor she have jeopardized any investigation.”

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.